Three Violations Could Now Cost Players a Game As NFL Announces New Suspension Rules

The NFL, NFLPA have agreed to overhaul the league's player safety fine system for the 2026 season.

Three Violations Could Now Cost Players a Game As NFL Announces New Suspension Rules

Bengals Logan Wilson tackles Ravens TE Mark Andrews (Image via Marca)

Over the years, the NFL has worked tirelessly to make football safer for athletes. They have introduced penalties for misconduct, and they will get stricter.

The joint board of the NFL and NFLPA (NFL Players Association) is placing greater emphasis on five penalties with a new fine and suspension structure. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, those penalties are:

  1. Hip drop tackle
  2. Horse collar tackle
  3. Launching
  4. Hit on a Defenseless Player
  5. Blindside block

Schefter further revealed that any player who commits three offenses in any one of these categories during the season will be suspended for one game. If a player commits one of the five violations, then they will receive 50% of their fine back at the end of the year. But bear in mind, violations in any of these five categories will carry forward to the next season.

Players will start the 2026 season with a clean slate. The NFL committee will try its best to sustain a cleaner and faster path to reducing the impact of prior offenses.

Moreover, the NFL is focusing on shared accountability. Teams with excessive health and safety violations will face increased penalties. Coaches of players approaching suspensions now have to join them in NFL meetings.

The NFL is appointing former player and coach Ron Rivera to oversee the new rule change. Rivera spent 13 years in the NFL and later managed the Carolina Panthers a few years back.

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Hip drop tackles are dangerous

Hip drop tackles have been viewed as a punishable offense for quite some time. It’s dangerous, but it rarely gets seen on the football field.

Three Violations Could Now Cost Players a Game As NFL Announces New Suspension Rules
Eagles Zach Baun using the hip drop tackle to bring down Giants RB Cam Skattebo (Image via The Sun)

According to NFL Penalties, just three hip drop penalties have been called in the past two years. However, one tackle was so brutal, it ended a player’s season.

Cam Skattebo made a name for himself as a livewire at Arizona State. His demeanor and playing style remained the same even after he switched from college football to the NFL.

The New York Giants drafted Skattebo, and slowly he took over the RB1 role midway through the year. Unfortunately, he couldn’t play all 17 games. While playing against the Philadelphia Eagles, Skattebo’s run was halted by a textbook hip drop tackle. But the irony was that the referee did not flag a penalty. Skattebo suffered a gruesome ankle injury that ended his rookie year after just eight games.

What is a hip drop tackle? It’s a method of tackling that requires the defender to grab the ball carrier. The defender then lets his own feet come off the ground, essentially using gravity to pull himself and the ball carrier to the ground.

Kirsten Tanis and Dr. Jeff Mueller pointed to an incident in which a Cincinnati Bengals defender brought a Chicago Bears player down to the ground with a hip drop tackle. The referees missed it.

No matter how strict the penalties look on paper, the officials must enforce them on the field with an iron fist. Only then will football become safer and more enjoyable to the fans.

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